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John E. Williams III of Nevada wanted to buy tickets to the NFC Championship Game between the Seahawks and 49ers on Jan. 19 in Seattle. But he couldn’t, because the Seahawks limited ticket sales to Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, British Columbia and Alberta.

What’s a disgruntled football fan to do? File a lawsuit, of course.

In a federal complaint filed April 15, Williams accuses the Seahawks, NFL, Ticketmaster and others of fraud for their “unconstitutional ‘selective sales’ of tickets to national events held in public stadiums, including Qwest Field,” the lawsuit states.

The Seahawks limited ticket sales to six states and two Canadian provinces for the NFC Championship Game against the 49ers on Jan. 19, 2014, at CenturyLink Field. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The suit consistently misidentifies CenturyLink Field, the Seahawks’ home stadium in Seattle, by its old name — sometimes misspelled as “Quest.”

Williams is seeking $50 million in damages and for the NFL to adopt an over-arching policy for distributing tickets. He argues, in part, that because the NFL is exempt from federal income taxes and because most stadiums are financed with public funds, anyone anywhere should be able to attend any NFL game.

“In spite of the stadium being built with public funds, and billed as a public event,” the complaint states, “(Williams) was denied the ability to purchase a ticket to the game because of the economic discrimination and violation of public accommodation solely because his credit card was not issued in the restrictive states or Canada — which is not even part of the United States, whose citizens have not contributed to the taxers used to build the stadium.”

A self-described “avid football fan,” Williams appears to have filed the lawsuit himself, without an attorney. The case is in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

The Seahawks did not immediately reply to a seattlepi.com request for comment.

Seattle’s limited ticket sales for the NFC title game drew considerable outrage from San Francisco 49ers fans back in January. But it has been a widespread practice throughout the league for years; even this year, the Denver Broncos similarly limited ticket sales to the AFC Championship Game but did not draw the same ire.

“I actually respect it – what you’re trying to do for your team, put them in the best possible position to win,” Harbaugh told The San Francisco Chronicle. “I respect that their organization does that for their team. I think they do that in a lot of ways.”

It’s not the first time that NFL teams have taken such measures. In January 2007, the San Diego Chargers tried to limit access to tickets for their playoff game against the Patriots to Southern California residents. …

In that same timeframe, the Chicago Bears set measures in motion to block Seattle Seahawks fans from buying tickets for the divisional playoff between the two teams.

At that time, league spokesman Greg Aiello said that there was no rule that would prohibit such limitations.